Author: Pastor Doug

Our scripture today is Jeremiah 33:8 (MEV).

I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against Me. And I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against Me.

God sends a message of hope to mitigate our disobedience. He promises a way for us to be made clean and able to be in relationship with Him again. Previously the prophet spoke of a “new covenant” (Jeremiah 31:31). At the Last Supper in Luke 22:20 Jesus says “This cup is the new covenant in My blood which is shed for you.” When we accept His sacrifice for us and ask forgiveness, we are able to be born again and be the people He intends.

Loving Lord, in Your mercy You sent Jesus to be our Savior and example. Help us to live as He taught and share Your love with everyone. Amen.

Our scripture today is Jeremiah 10:10 (MEV).

But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and an everlasting King. At His wrath the earth trembles, and the nations cannot endure His indignation.

While Jeremiah may weep over the peoples’ failure, he also brings the unfiltered truth: the God of creation can be righteously angry with His creation. Sometimes we don’t respond to guidance and for our own good, stricter actions are needed. We are willful people and discipline is rarely seen as a blessing until we learn the harm from which it turns us. God wants us to follow His way because we love Him, not because we were given a cosmic timeout.

Patient God, You have given us so many chances to change, but You remain open to our return. Forgive us and send us to share Your law and Your love with the world. Amen.

Our scripture today is Jeremiah 8:6 (MEV).

I listened and heard, but they did not speak what is right. No man repented of his wickedness, saying, “What have I done?” Everyone turned to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle.

Jeremiah gives us a lesson that is repeated several times in scripture -“everyone turned to his course”. We hear this in Judges 21:25 “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” In 2 Timothy 4:3 Paul tells us “For the time will come when people will not endure sound teaching, but they will gather to themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires.” This human tendency to hear what we want to hear and do what we want to do was the cause of our original separation from God. Thankfully, God has made a way for us to repent and return to Him through the blessing of His Son.

Loving Lord, we are sorry for our selfish ways that hurt our relationship with You and our brothers and sisters. Help us to see and hear Your truth and share it with the world. Amen.

Our scripture today is Jeremiah 7:11 (MEV).

Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, says the Lord.

Jesus quotes this verse and Isaiah 56:7 when He says in Matthew 21:13 “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it ‘a den of thieves.’”  Mark 11:17 and Luke 19:46 also record Him using these verses from the prophets. Jesus is telling them they have fallen away from the path God intended and like the people Jeremiah wept over, the Temple and their nation would be swept away. Without a connection to the Lord we are lost.

Heavenly Father, we are ashamed of our wandering and want to return to Your way. Forgive us, wash us clean through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus, and send us to share the Good News among Your children. Amen.

Our scripture today is Jeremiah 5:3 (MEV).

O Lord, are not Your eyes upon the truth? You have stricken them, but they have not grieved. You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction. They have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.

Jeremiah is sometimes known as the Weeping Prophet for his frequently sorrowful comments about God’s people. In this verse he grieves over their lack of repentance even in the face of discipline intended to show them their sin. It is this stubborn refusal to admit we are wrong that separates us from God and each other. God doesn’t beat us with our sin but He does require we recognize it, repent of our wrongdoing, accept His forgiveness and become productive children of His kingdom. 

Loving Lord, we are sorry for the times we ignore Your guidance and stray into sin. Forgive us and help us share the love You have given us with the world. Amen.

Our scripture today is Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV).

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

Jeremiah receives his call from God in this verse, becoming a prophet to the southern kingdom of Judah. He is perhaps not as well known as the prophet Isaiah, but as we will see he carries the same message to the people of Judah. In this verse we also hear God’s love and foreknowledge of each of us, and His plan for us all. Through Christ’s Great Commission to us to make disciples of all people, we too are appointed as prophets to the nations.

Gracious God, You not only made a way for us to be saved, but a way for us to be part of Your redemption. Bless us to go in Your name spreading the Good News to all. Amen.

Our scripture this morning is Isaiah 65:17 (ESV).

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

In John’s vision from Revelation 21:1 we read “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” God sends the same lesson there as in our verse this morning from Isaiah. He offers us a chance to be remade in His image, washed clean by Christ’s sacrifice for us. God is constant and consistent no matter what changes we may experience, and He is always ready to accept our repentance and forgive us.

Loving Lord, we are sorry for the times we stumble or run to sin rather than into Your arms. Bless us to be new people in Your new creation, sharing Your love forever. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 61:1 (ESV).

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

Most of us are likely more familiar with this quote from the lesson in Luke 4:16-21 where Jesus reads this passage in the synagogue in Nazareth. He ends by telling them “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” We can see this as Christ’s “job description”, one which He later passes to us. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah centuries earlier; now His promise has come to earth in the form of Jesus the Son. He is the only Savior and we are called to share that joy with the world.

Heavenly Father, we are amazed that You would accept us back in our sinful condition. Forgive us, refresh our spirits and realign them with Yours, and send us to speak the Good News everywhere. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 55:6-7 (ESV).

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

While the phrase “while he may be found” sounds like there might be a time when God is hidden from us, the exact opposite is true. Isaiah is being a little sarcastic in his earnest plea – there is no time that God hid from us. However, we hid from Him after choosing our own way (Genesis 3:8) and we continue to hide out of guilt, which evil uses to separate us. God says “I know you and everything you’ve done, come back and be forgiven.”

Heavenly Father, we know what we have done and sometimes that shame keeps us apart. Help us to see that Your forgiveness is open to all who repent and accept Christ as Lord. Amen.

Our scripture today is Isaiah 53:4-5 (ESV).

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.

I can’t think of anything but Jesus when I read these words, yet they were written some eight hundred years before His birth. Jesus came to save us and remind us of what a life in God looks like. I don’t know why we are surprised when prophecy is fulfilled – God told us what He was going to do and He did it! God has inspired people throughout history to share His love and guidance with the world. May we be ready to share the gifts He has given us with all our brothers and sisters.

Loving Lord, when we fell into sin You made a way for us to return in forgiveness. Bless us to tell the world of Your love and to forgive others as You first forgave us. Amen.